The amount of spent fuel generated at Japanese nuclear power plants that were reactivated under new safety standards totaled about 1,450 tons as of the end of May this year, sources said.
Spent nuclear fuel emits high-level radiation and strong heat, and is therefore kept in dedicated storage pools. The spent fuel storage rate has reached around 80% to 90% of capacity at several nuclear reactors.
The No. 1 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power¡¯s Sendai nuclear power station in Kagoshima Prefecture was brought back online in August 2015, becoming the first reactor restarted under the new safety standards. The revised standards were introduced in 2013 following the March 2011 triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings¡¯ disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
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